Vindicatrix Boy

The Navigator memorial sculptor Karen Genoff, Merchant Navy priest Ray Prettejohn, Port Adelaide chaplain Robin Trebilcock and Keith Ridgeway, Merchant Navy Association, spoke at the 5.30 am commemoration of the departure of SS Admella from Port Adelaide 150 years ago.

Descendants of cabin boy George Ward, who survived the Admella tragedy, and of rescuers, the Portland lifeboat captain James Fawthrop and lighthouse keeper Captain Benjamin Germein, were among the crowd at Port Adelaide commemorations to mark the departure of the vessel on her last fateful voyage on August 5, 1859.

At precisely 5.30 am Keith Ridgeway rang a ship’s bell, candles were lit and a tot of rum was served to more than 30 souls at the Admella memorial, ‘The Navigator’, at the Queens Wharf end of Timpson Street.
Our photos by Cheryll Goodridge.